O Come All Ye Faithful
by WillowMina
Summary: A Christmassy type drabble. A take on why Faith didn't fly away from Sunnydale in the S4 episodes This Years Girl and Who Are You?


Faith lay in the bath, feeling the relaxing warmth of the water and bubbles surrounding her, and mused that life finally seemed to have taken a turn for the better. Wallowing down in the bubbles, she stretched her leg up and out of the water.

_Ya know, B doesn't have that bad a body. Yeah, I can certainly get used to this._

She got out of the bath, and amused herself for a while pulling faces in the mirror. All in a good cause, of course! She had a role to play and there was no way she was letting B's goody-good friends find her out. She was just trying out different inflections on the phrase "Because it's wrong!" when she felt a presence behind her, so she turned round to see a dark complexioned girl with long dark hair that she didn't recognise, although…

"Yah're not Buffy!" the girl stated. "I cen see that." She smiled, a knowing sort of smile, that grew as Faith tried to strike her. Her hand had gone right through the girl. "I'm Kendra, I was…"

"The Slayer before me!" Faith completed, feeling a little disoriented seeing the girl who'd died to make her who she was. Shaking herself, she assumed her usual terse attitude. "So why're you here?"

"To wahrn you! Yah're going to be visited by t'ree ghosts. Ahll before Noon tamorrow. They will make you repent av yahr ways!"

"Right!" Faith scoffed, "You think all that Scrooge nonsense is going to scare me. Well, you got another th …"

"I don't t'ink!" The ghost of Kendra interrupted Faith's tirade, then, leaning closer to the living Slayer, "I. Know!"

Suddenly, Faith was alone again, she shivered, but stubbornly put it down to the fact she'd just got out of the bath rather than to the experience she'd just had.

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Faith convinced herself that she'd been dreaming.

_All that steam in the bathroom. Must've done something to my head._

She was laying, relaxing on Buffy's bed when she felt a chill. She got up to close the window, and was a little confused when she found it was already shut. Turning round she saw something that made her heart stop.

"Anna?"

The woman smiled, making wrinkles appear at the corner of her eyes.

"Well, at least you still recognise me. It has been nearly three years." The woman's accent immediately marked her as English.

"But... You're dead! How can you be here."

"You never did listen properly, did you, Faith." She stood, the scarf falling from her neck, revealing the bite marks beneath. "You were warned."

Tears stung Faith's eyes as she sat down, visibly shaken. "I didn't think it was true. All that Scrooge stuff. It's not even Christmas."

Anna shrugged. "No, but it's a chance for you to turn your life around. That's why I'm here, why the others will come."

"So you're gonna take me back to happier times." Faith suddenly stood up, facing the ghost without a tremor. "'Cause there ain't many of those in my life." She looked down. "One of the worst times was..." Faith trailed off.

"Killing me?" Anna asked, sitting back down on the bed. "You did what you had to do. You allowed me to rest." She signed, her eyes clouding over with the memories. "And no, I'm not taking you back to happier times. I'm just here to remind you, talk to you."

Faith sat down beside her first Watcher, the woman who'd told her what she was. "They were good times, ya know. When I was with you. It was only after Kakistos... after he turned you and I had to kill you that things started going wrong."

"They can help you. You do know that. Buffy, and Rupert. If you just asked them, I'm sure they'd keep you from the Council. It's not as if Rupert's in their good books at the moment."

Faith looked down at herself, at Buffy's body. "I think it's a little too late for that." She sat silently for a moment, and then turned and looked at Anna. "Ya know. I do really miss you. Just having you here makes me feel better."

Anna stood up, and looked down sympathetically at her Slayer. "I know, but. I'm afraid I have to go. Two more will visit you and all that I suppose." She paused, and real sadness tinged her voice. "Goodbye Faith, and good luck."

Faith looked down at the floor "Do you have to go?" When she looked up, the room was empty.

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It was about an hour later, and Faith was in Joyce's room, 'borrowing' some money when she felt the same chill that she had felt earlier, just before Anna had appeared.

_Oh man, not another one!_

Wearily she sighed and slowly turned. "Okay, come out. I know you're here."

The tall bespectacled man turned from the window. "Well, at least you're paying attention to the world around you. Focus, Faith. It's the only way that you can ever become a good Slayer."

_Great... Wesley!_

Faith turned back to the dresser, intent on finding more money. "Well, I never expected to see you again, Wes."

"Well, you obviously are. And my name is Wesley." He sniffed. "Not! Wes!"

"Whatever!" Faith replied, shrugging and sitting on the bed. "So, you here to remind me how good it was. 'Cause I'm telling you it wasn't, ya know."

"Hardly! I'm here to tell you how things are now, and they're not good. Not by a long way."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you even know what sort of evil Buffy was fighting before you... evicted her from her body, in lieu of a better phrase."

"Nope... just guessed it was the usual vamps, demons, that sorta thing."

"Well it's not. There's this monster, half demon, half machine. It's roaming free around Sunnydale and it's cutting up small children for no apparent reason."

"Gross!"

"Well, yes. I suppose it is. But who knows what this creature could be doing now. He could be out there, attacking anyone."

Faith stood, the anger finally overtaking her. "You think I care? All I want is to get out of here. Start a new life somewhere."

"Are you really prepared to do that Faith? To turn your back on your duty?"

"Hell, yeah. Now piss off before I kick your Casper-like ass outta here!"

Wesley sighed. "Well, I tried. I'll warn you now though Faith, the third will be a lot harder on me than I will be."

Turning his back on her, Wesley disappeared.

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Faith made it to the airport without encountering the third spirit. She was waiting to check-in when she noticed on the TV News that people were being held hostage in a church. With a sick feeling in her stomach, she realised that it must be vampires. However, it was what happened next that made her eventually go and help.

She heard a voice in her ear.

"Well, if it isn't Faith. I'm so glad to see that you've not changed one jot. Well, of course excepting your appearance. Very good trick you played on Buffy. You could be as powerful as I nearly was if you carry on this way."

Faith turned, half afraid by what she would see. Her suspicions were realised. There stood Gwendolyn Post, her 'Watcher' who had turned out to be evil.

"Why are you here?"

"I hardly think that's any of your business." The woman snapped. "And please remember, you must address me as Miss Post."

"Why! It's not as if you can hurt me." Faith spoke quietly, being careful not to draw attention to herself.

"If you carry on behaving in the manner you are now you will eventually encounter your downfall, and then. You and I shall meet again. And you will suffer. Just as I did."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't imagine that I got away with all that I did? Oh no! You can't be evil and get away with it, I'm afraid, Faith. Unfortunately this world seems to be on the side of good. So those of us who choose to follow the other path are made to pay for it."

"But, I'm not like you. I don't want to destroy the world. I just want life to go right."

"No Faith, you're evil. You're becoming more like me every day. And if you leave now. There will be no going back."

Faith faced the ghost squarely. "I won't be like you. I hate you!"

Realising what she was on the way to becoming. Faith left the airport and headed for the church.

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It was later. Faith had saved the people at the church. Buffy had turned up, and Faith was back in her own body. On a train headed for who knew where.

_I don't want to be evil. Please. Just let things go right for me?_


End file.
